Defence & Security

RUDRAM – Anti-Radiation Missile by DRDO | UPSC – IAS

(Type of missile – Air-to-surface anti-radiation missile)

The Rudram-1 previously known as DRDO Anti-Radiation missile (ARM) is an air-to-surface, new generation anti-radiation missile (NGARM) under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to provide an air superiority, tactical capability for the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft.

New generation Anti Radiation Missile (RUDRAM) was successfully Flight tested on 9 October 2020 – onto a radiation target located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.

• The RUDRAM is first indigenous anti-radiation missile of the country for Indian Air Force (IAF), being developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The missile is integrated on SU-30 Mk1 fighter aircraft as the launch platform, having capability of varying ranges based on launch conditions.
• It has INS-GPS navigation with Passive Homing Head for the final attack. (Passive Homing Head can detect, classify and engage targets over a wide band of frequencies as programmed.)
• The RUDRAM hit the radiation target with pinpoint accuracy.

Significance of RUDRAM (anti – radiation missile) | UPSC – IAS

This state-of-the-art high speed missile developed in India is first-of-its-kind in the IAF arsenal. The missile will be jointly produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

• The missile is a potent weapon for Indian air Force for Suppression of Enemy Air Defence effectively from large standoff ranges.
• With this, the country has established indigenous capability to develop long range air launched anti-radiation missiles for neutralising enemy Radars, communication sites and other RF emitting targets.
• It is designed primarily for suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), that can be launched from a range of altitudes for destroying enemy surveillance radars, tracking and communication systems. 

Genesis and Different types of Terrorism in World | UPSC – IAS

Terrorists are motivated by different goals and objectives. Depending on the objectives of the group/groups, the nature of terrorism also differs. The major types of terrorist operations commonly identified globally include:

Ethno-Nationalist Terrorism | UPSC – IAS

• Terrorism motivated by ethno-nationalist and separatist aspirations became prominent only after the Second World War and dominated the terrorist agenda around the world for more than 50 years until religious terrorism came to occupy the centre stage. Ethnic terrorism can be defined, as deliberate violence by a subnational ethnic group to advance its cause.
• Such violence usually focuses either on the creation of a separate State or on the elevation of the status of one ethnic group over others. Tamil Nationalist groups in Sri Lanka and insurgent groups in North East India are examples of ethno-nationalist terrorist activities.

Religious Terrorism | UPSC – IAS

• Present day terrorist activities around the world are motivated largely by religious imperatives. The practitioners of terrorism motivated either in whole or in part by a religious imperative consider violence as a divine duty or a sacramental act. It embraces different means of legitimisation and justification compared to other terrorist groups, and these distinguishing factors make religious terrorism more destructive in nature. Religious terrorism can be initiated by both a minority and a majority religion or sect of a nation.

Ideology Oriented Terrorism | UPSC – IAS

Any ideology can be used to support the use of violence and terrorism. Ideology oriented terrorism is generally classified into two: Left-wing and Right-wing terrorism.

• (a) Left-wing Terrorism- Violence against the ruling elite mostly by the peasant class motivated by what is called leftist ideologies have occurred time and again in history. However, a concrete ideological base for the left and subsequent violent movements was inspired by the writings of Marx and Engels. This was supported by the writings and speeches of later communists like Lenin and Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong). Leftist ideologies believe that all the existing social relations and state structures in the capitalist society are exploitative in character and a revolutionary change through violent means is essential.  Examples of leftist ideologies that have resorted to the use of terror are numerous. These include; the Red Army Faction or Baader Meinhof Gang in the former West Germany, the Red Brigades in Italy, the 17 November Movement in Greece, the Shining Path of Peru, People’s Revolutionary Army and the Montoneros of Argentina  and the Maoist groups in India and Nepal are the most easily identifiable groups closer home.
• (b) Right-wing Terrorism- Right-wing groups generally seek to maintain the status-quo or to return to some past situation that they feel should have been conserved. Sometimes groups espousing rightist ideologies might assume ethnic/racist character too. They may force the government to acquire a territory or to intervene to protect the rights of an ‘oppressed’ minority in a neighboring country, (i.e : the Nazi Party in Germany). Violence against migrant communities also comes under this category of terrorist violence. Examples of these are: Nazism in Germany, Fascists in Italy, white supremacy movements in the US known as Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the Green Jackets of Denmark in the 1980s etc.

State-sponsored Terrorism | UPSC – IAS

• State-sponsored terrorism or warfare by proxy is as old as the history of military conflict. However, state-sponsored terrorism on a massive scale reappeared in international politics in the 1960s and 1970s, and today along with religious terrorism, state sponsored terrorism has considerably altered the nature of terrorist activities around the world.
• In recent times, some countries have embraced terrorism as a deliberate instrument of foreign policy. One distinction of state sponsored terrorism from other forms of terrorist activity is that it is initiated to obtain certain clearly defined foreign policy objectives rather than grabbing media attention or targeting the potential audience. In a cost-benefit analysis, state-sponsored terrorism is the most effective means of terrorism from the perspective of the perpetrator.
• State-sponsored terrorism was widely employed in Central Asia in the nineteenth century. Russians supported their fellow Slavs in the Balkans. Bulgaria used the Macedonian revolutionary terrorists against Yugoslavia after World War I. The Western powers under the auspices of the US supported all kinds of nationalist and anti-communist rebels throughout the Cold War. The Soviet Union was no different in its operations during this period. Countries like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya North Korea have been engaged in sponsorship of political violence of different nature in their ‘enemy’ countries. India has been facing this problem from Pakistan since Independence.

Narco-terrorism | UPSC – IAS

• The term was first used in 1983 by the former President of Peru, Belaunde Terry to describe campaigns by drug traffickers using terrorist methods such as the use of car bombs, assassinations and kidnapping against the anti-narcotics police in Colombia and Peru. Though initially used in the context of drug trafficking related terrorism in South America, the term has come to be associated with terrorist groups and activities around the world and more so in the Central and South-East Asia.
• Narco-terrorism has been defined as `the attempt by narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of the Government by systematic threat or use by violence’.  However, it is also possible to view narco-terrorism as a means of terrorism or at any rate  as a means of funding terrorism.  As the term itself suggests, narco-terrorism combines two criminal activities; drug trafficking and terrorist violence.   Narco-terrorism is motivated mainly by economic reasons as it helps the terrorist organizations raise huge sums of money with minimum cost for their activities.  Thus the political, ideological, religious and the ethno-nationalist motives generally associated with terrorism are secondary to the economic gains associated with it.
• In a survey conducted by the United Nations, links between drug traffickers and terrorist groups were observed in 19 out of 38 countries.  These countries include Algeria, Colombia, Comoros, Ecuador, Germany, Guernsey, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uzbekistan and Yemen.  Major terrorist groups operating on these lines in these countries are: Al Qaeda, the Colombia-based AUC (United Defences of Columbia), ELN (National Liberation Army), Colombia, and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the tri-border Islamic Group in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, the Shining Path in Peru, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) in Turkey, IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) in Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the RIRA (Real Irish Republican Army) in Northern Ireland.  Islamist terrorist groups in India supported by the Pakistan ISI are reported to be active in drug trafficking along the Kashmir Valley and also in other parts of the country.

Nuclear Triad india – INS Arihant Submarine UPSC – IAS

The indigenous INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear-powered submarine successfully completed its first deterrence patrol, meaning that the submarine is fully ready for its role as a strategic deterrent.

Significance of Nuclear Triad | UPSC – IAS

• With the completion of the patrol, India have finally achieved the longstanding ambition to have a nuclear triad, giving the country multiple options if it comes to a nuclear confrontation. Nuclear Triad
• A nuclear triad refers to the three components of atomic weapons delivery: strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
• Of the three elements of the triad, the SLBMs are considered the most important because the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine is the hardest to detect, track and destroy.
• A nuclear triad gives a country the ability to launch nukes from land, air and sea. This is important, because if a country initiates a nuclear attack, it cannot destroy all three components of the triad at once, and thus, the component which is intact can launch a retaliatory strike.

Uniqueness of each leg of Triad | UPSC – IAS

According to Undersea Warfare, the Official Magazine of the US submarine force, each leg of the triad contributes unique attributes that enhance deterrence and reduce risk.

• ICBMs provide a prompt response, the potential to launch under attack, and a hardened, geographically-
  dispersed target base.
• Strategic bombers provide great flexibility in force posturing, signalling intentions, route planning, and recall-ability.
• Missile submarines provide survivable, assured response and the mobility to adapt missile over-flight to targets.

Why India needs a Nuclear Triad ? | UPSC – IAS

• India’s ‘No first use’ nuclear policy (NFU) talks of minimum credible deterrence. Minimum credible deterrence capability would, however, require India to possess the critical capabilities to ensure the survivability of its nuclear weapons even after a first strike against it. NFU, therefore, casts a responsibility on the nation to achieve a second strike capability. A second strike capability can only be imparted by a Triad.
• India has two nuclear-armed countries (China and Pakistan) on both its eastern and western fronts which makes it particularly imperative for the country to possess adequate deterrence.
• The absence of INS Arihant came to attention during the Doka La standoff with China, when Beijing had flexed muscle in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean Region, crucial for India’s strategic interests, has in general been witnessing an increasing presence of Chinese ships and submarines.
• Chinese String of Pearls and Maritime Silk Road are attempting to create a Chinese monopoly in the Indian Ocean Region while encircling India from Myanmar to West Asia and Eastern Africa.
• Pakistan last year tested its submarine-launched Babur missile, and in the process completed its nuclear triad, since it already possesses land-based ballistic missiles as well as tactical nuclear bombs that it can drop from its fighter aircraft.
• India now joins the elite squad of countries like Russia, China, France, the US and the UK that possess nuclear-powered submarines. It is the first SSBN (Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear) to have been built by a country other than one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

A Way forward | UPSC – IAS

• More requirement of SSBN: According to the US Navy Institute, a continuous patrol requires a minimum of four SSBNs. This assumes one submarine is on patrol for, say, two to three months; another is in port on standby; while the third and fourth may be undergoing repairs or refits. In this context India needs to speed up its Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to ensure timely delivery of SSBNs.
• Complementary fleet to SSBN: India will require a complementary fleet of ship submersible nuclear (SSN) submarines – these are fast, hunter killer subs that will be required to detect and track Chinese and Pakistani undersea activity and warships. The Indian Navy plans to acquire as many as six SSNs, and discussions are on with shipbuilders from France and the US for participating in the project.
• Nuclear Submarine Base: The Indian Navy has commenced Project Varsha – the construction of a massive nuclear submarine base south of Visakhapatnam. The base will house India’s SSBN fleet. The first phase of the project will be completed by 2022. Its timely completion is crucial for India’s Oceanic leg of Nuclear Triad.
• Enhance the range of Missiles: The Arihant is equipped to carry twelve K-15 ballistic nuclear missiles with an abysmally short range of 750 km. This means before launching its missiles, the sub will have to venture close to enemy waters, endangering its own security. A 3,500 km range missile named the K-4 is currently in development. Apart from this, DRDO is also developing 5,000-km range K-5 and 6,000-km range K-6 which would add more teeth to the arsenal.